The Hindu : Front Page : Telugu Desam chief faces the ‘heat’ over remarks against Deputy Speaker

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Telugu Desam chief faces the ‘heat’ over remarks against Deputy Speaker

Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD: Events took a totally unexpected turn during the no confidence debate in the Assembly on Wednesday when Leader of Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu found himself in the dock over his remarks against Deputy Speaker G. Kutuhalamma, a Scheduled Caste member, while she was conducting the proceedings.

There was absolute bedlam as a large delegation of Ministers, woman and SC members of the Congress later petitioned Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and Speaker K. R. Suresh Reddy to have Mr. Naidu booked under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989, and expel him from the House for his remarks against Ms. Kutuhalamma, a medical doctor by education.

They accused Mr. Naidu of saying that the Deputy Speaker was unfit to run the House and that the Speaker should come to the House. The TDP leader threatened to stall the proceedings till Mr. Suresh Reddy took over the proceedings. His contention was that he would get his right to reply to the debate only at midnight unless the Speaker came and took a decision on his plea.

Inside the House earlier, Telugu Desam members rushed to the podium raising slogans. Dr. Kutuhalamma announced adjournment of the House for ten minutes. She later expressed her wish to put in her papers over the “humiliation meted out” to her by the Opposition leader. In a related development, Marketing Minister M. Mareppa launched a flash hunger strike at the Gandhi statue in the Assembly promises.

Incensed at the “objectionable remarks” made by Mr. Naidu, Ministers and women members took out a procession from the Speaker’s chambers to the Congress Legislature Party denouncing the TDP leader’s conduct. Speaking to reporters later, Ministers G. Surya Rao, Koneru Ranga Rao, Geetha Reddy, G. Aruna Kumari and several SC MLAs wanted Dr. Kutuhalamma to chair the rest of the proceedings.

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